Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie, 1862. First edition. 8vo., iv, 244 pp. Contemporary red cloth with simple title and rules in gilt on the spine; spine faded with wear at the crown and lower portion of the joints and tips. Occasional faint foxing, with the rear endpapers soiled. A near very good copy. Item #52125

The authors, the Parisian photographic firm of Mayer & Pierson, operated a fashionable studio on the Boulevard des Capucines, with Napoleon III, Rossini among their celebrity clients. Their artistry, range of processes and products and sound business practices, elevated the firm above most of their compeditors.

LA PHOTOGRAPHIE CONSIDÉRÉE COMME ART ET COMME INDUSTRIE, listing the partners as joint authors, provides a history of photography to date, and a general treatise with consideration for its uses in art and industry, its progress and future. It is here that attention was first drawn to the Tiphaigne de la Roche's GIPHANTIA, a work of fiction that is thought to be the first mention of the production of images by the agencies of light. This title was included in the Arno Press History of Photography reprint series.

We have previously owned another copy with had the half-title page, was unopen and untrimmed and was printed on a heavier paper which increased the bulk of the text block by approximately 35%.

Roosens and Salu No. 4241. OCLC locates nineteen copies.

Price: $300.00